Comments on: Is Forbes Becoming a Town Crier?

By: James Cartwright

James Cartwright — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:59:37 +0000

I used to love reading Malcolm Forbes’s column, Thoughts From the Chairman, which always opened with a quote – “With all thy getting, get thee understanding,”. I thought that was great direction for the magazine’s writers and editors. Pity that they seem to have abandoned that charter in favor of the sensational, salatious, and silly. More pitiful is that so many consumers fail to recognize that factual information has been replaced by entertainment pap because the bottom line takes precedence over the editors’ red lines.Malcolm is likely spinning in his grave over what is now published under his name, however, the restaurant, show and hotel reviews which always closed his column, may have started it all.
NEO has some ugly warts we will never be rid of without first acknowledging they are there. If Forbes wants to help us do that, fine. However,if they just want to point at the wart on Grandma’s nose and laugh, they win a wuppin.

By: Ron Petrie

Ron Petrie — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:33:22 +0000

List articles have become the publishing equivalent of “reality” TV — totally lame, unbelievable and pointless content, cheap to produce, and attractive to consumers with more time than brains. Every time I read one of those list articles I kick myself all over again for getting suckered into reading it. What do you get when you average the inches of snowfall with the percent of unemployment, and the rate of violent crime and the emergency room wait time? No on knows for sure, but it sure isn’t useful statistical information anymore. It’s like baking a cake and then processing it in the cuisinart — something Marie Antoinette might have done if she had electricity. “Let them eat crumb-slurry,” she might have opined on her way to the electric chair.

By: Tom Delamater

Tom Delamater — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:56:42 +0000

Your tweaking of Forbes is quite separate from the reality of life in Northeast Ohio. You make a compelling point about the relevance of their myriad lists. After a while, should we care?
However, when it comes to the misery index, cities like Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron, Canton and Toledo should take note, because Forbes’ opinions of them seem only to mirror those of many current and former residents. Canton had a population of 110,000 when I was growing up there, was last listed around 70,000, and, according to current rumblings, may dip closer to 60,000 on the next Census. That’s shocking. Rather than get mad at Forbes, we who live in NEO ought to take their observations to heart — regardless of their motive or tactics in disseminating them — and do something about the circumstances affecting our region.
Unfortunately “doing something” is often left to politicians — which is why our cities ended up on the list in the first place. No wonder so many people just throw up their hands and leave.
Nice post, Dan.

By: Dan Pecchia

Dan Pecchia — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:20:29 +0000

Good point, Well.

By: Well...

Well... — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:05:14 +0000

Look at the other mainstream media attention Youngstown has received this year. The New York Times put out two articles about the city. The first was about the shooting of the 80 year old woman in the church parking lot and the second was about Traficant running fro office again.
We should be honest about the deep seeded problems still in Youngstown. We have another corruption scandal emerging as I type, once again it involves corrupt judges and the most powerful businessman in the area. Not to mention, we have already had three times the number of murders that we had last year. This city still has enormous issues to face-Forbes is not one of them.

By: Matt Evans

Matt Evans — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:33:06 +0000

Global warming is certainly not adding to the allure of NE Ohio as I look out my window on the second day of spring!